Iuppiter Optimus Maximus Capitolinus, Aedes

The Temple of Iuppiter Optimus Maximus has been identified, since 1683, with the foundations under Palazzo Caffarelli in the *Area Capitolina. Originally dating from the Archaic period, this huge temple was arguably the most important and revered sacred building in Rome. It was dedicated to the Capitoline Triad: Iuppiter Optimus Maximus, Iuno Regina, and Minerva, and incorporated preexisting shrines to Terminus, Iuventas, and Mars (<a href="https://www-loebclassics-com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/view/augustine-city_god_pagans/1957/pb_LCL412.87.xml">August., De civ. D. 4.23</a>). Excavations undertaken since 1865 (see Riemann 110-12) have revealed enough to reconstruct a rectangular podium c. 62 x 53 m in area and 3.6 m high (Tagliamonte). North of the rear side of the podium is a parallel foundation which was part of the temenos wall of the Area Capitolina (Riemann 112-13), not part of the temple (as Reusser; see <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0147%3Abook%3D25%3Achapter%3D3#:~:text=When%20the%20day%20arrived%20for%20arguing%20the%20question%2C%20the%20people%20assembled%20in%20such%20numbers%2C%20that%20the%20area%20of%20the%20Capitol%20could%20scarcely%20contain%20them%3B%20and%20the%20cause%20having%20been%20gone%20through%2C%20the%20only%20hope%20of%20safety%20which%20presented%20itself%20was%2C%20that%20Caius%20Servilius%20Casca%2C%20a%20tribune">Liv. 25.3.14</a>, <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Gellius/2*.html#:~:text=had%20said%20that%20it%20had%20been%20his%20desire%20to%20lower%20the%20area%20Capitolina">Gell. 2.102</a>). Several construction phases are visible: a layer of capellaccio tufa blocks (H. c. 30-32 cm) set into the bedrock, 5 layers of the same tufa (H. c. 40 cm) set back slightly from the course below and, on top, a layer of concrete (see <a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/4C*.html#:~:text=Having%20received%20these,and%20one%20roof.">Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 4.61</a>). However, there are fewer distinct construction phases than known restorations, and the dating of these levels is disputed (Wardle). The Archaic temple burned in 83 B.C (<a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Histories/3C*.html#:~:text=This%20was%20the,led%20to%20arms%3F">Tact. Hist. 3.72</a>, <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Cic.+Catil.+3.9&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0019">Cic. Catil. 3.9</a>). The new temple was started by L. Cornelius Sulla and dedicated by Q. Lutatius Catulus in 69 B.C (<a href="http://www.attalus.org/translate/pliny_hn7b.html#:~:text=O%20what%20a,dedicated%20the%20Capitol.">Plin. HN 7.138</a>, <a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0080%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D72">Tact. Hist. 3.72.3</a>). A newly found inscription discussed by Coarelli 2014 suggests that Lucius Cornelius is one of the architects who helped redesign the Capitoline (<a href="https://db.edcs.eu/epigr/epi_url.php?p_edcs_id=EDCS-01000023&s_sprache=en">CIL I² 2961</a>, Coarelli 57). It was subsequently damaged by lightning on a number of occasions and restored by Augustus at great expense (<a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Augustus/Res_Gestae/4*.html#:~:text=Capitolium%20et%20Pompeium,Mulvium%20et%20Minucium.">RG 20.1</a>), perhaps after a fire in 9 B.C. (De Angeli). It is fairly certain from the existing podium remains that the Augustan temple as well as its antecedents and successors all stood on the same foundations (De Angeli). Above the level of the podium, the Temple of Iuppiter Optimus Maximus is generally restored in the Tuscan order, with three narrow cellae set behind a deep porch supported by three rows of 6 columns in a peripteros sine postico arrangement (Ulrich 58 fig. 10, 59-60, 67;<a href="http://www.attalus.org/translate/pliny_hn36a.html#:~:text=Marble%20columns%20were,on%20the%20Capitol.">Plin. HN 36.45</a>). In addition, there must have been a flight of steps in front of the façade, yet nothing survives of these steps in the archaeological record. Our reconstruction of the steps is hypothetical, but based on Coarelli and on Ulrich (58 fig. 10, 64-65). Several new studies have questioned the previous assumptions about the size and layout of the temple, with a succinct discussion found in Kaderka and Tucci.